1. Archbishop's 8 March centennial message: Let Sharia Law govern women's lives, Amen!

Comment #128581 by DV82XL on February 17, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Rowan Williams only opens his mouth to change feet. But fortunately he seems to be doing our work for us.

2. Schools should put faith in science

Comment #92488 by DV82XL on November 30, 2007 at 3:55 pm

fatcitymax - we've already had a period of theocracy in Canada, or at least here in Quebec. Google "The Quiet Revolution" for the full story. Stories from that time can still make me boil, like paychecks delivered directly to the parish priest so he could extract the church taxes before handing the remainder of the money in cash to the poor bastard that had eared it.

If you really want to get a handle on how bad it was google "Duplessis Children," children living in sanctuaries were hastily diagnosed as mentally incompetent. They were in fact simply children born out of wedlock. All at the hands of a government that was controlled by the Roman Catholic Church.

My advice is to do what ever you can not to let the same thing happen in the US. Quebec doesn't amount to a pile of small stones on the world stage. If America goes we are all screwed.

3. Jesus Rides the Number 7 Train

Comment #84764 by DV82XL on November 3, 2007 at 1:27 pm

"It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us. - Peter De Vries

4. Religion is not incompatible with Science: 'Non-Overlapping Magisteria'

Comment #81379 by DV82XL on October 24, 2007 at 4:31 pm

"Non-overlapping magisteria" was Gould's attempt at a cease-fire agreement between the two, not as a working theory. The whole point being that they could not speak to each others ideas.

The deists broke that to bits with 'Intelligent Design', in essence trying to force an overlap.

5. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist

Comment #81355 by DV82XL on October 24, 2007 at 4:08 pm

The problem here is that the deist, errors in thinking that in discarding a god, one needs do so by having faith in something else.

When I stopped believing in Santa as a child, I simply came to the conclusion that this entity did not exist because there was no evidence to the contrary. This is despite the fact that his image was everywhere during xmas season and many people continued to behave as if he were real.

Therefor, I submit that I do not believe in a god that created the universe the same way he doesn't believe in an elf that delivers presents.

Consequently, disbelief in this case is an act of reason, not faith.

6. Religion as a Force for Good

Comment #74581 by DV82XL on September 29, 2007 at 3:39 pm

Well they say Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time, but that's not to say that Fascism, 1932 style, was a good thing in the long run - or that time to time we need dictators to straighten things out.

7. Religion advances despite science (and thanks to Dawkins)

Comment #72977 by DV82XL on September 23, 2007 at 5:00 pm

What BAEOZ said...adding that they seem to think it OK to lie by omission in the service of what they claim is the ultimate font of Truth.

8. Religion advances despite science (and thanks to Dawkins)

Comment #72942 by DV82XL on September 23, 2007 at 3:40 pm

Isn't this tedious? Have they become so desperate that they have gotten to this?

Too bad the moderates have to make a choice. Sitting in their comfortable pews they could safely suspend disbelief for a few hours every Sunday and now they cannot and they are lashing out at those who are calling them out for their hypocrisies.

Well folks thats just too damned bad, but things aren't going back to the way things were, and it's time to pick a side. And deep down you know it has to be with us and that pisses you off.

Keep in mind it was the religious side that broke the "non-overlapping magisteria" truce by pushing the farce of Scientific Creationism. Now that we are fighting back and winning they are trying to stop the fight.

Too late

9. The New Atheists

Comment #67434 by DV82XL on September 3, 2007 at 12:21 pm

Those that call for a dialog between moderate deists and atheists forget that it is moderate faith that is the incubus of extremism.

We have nothing in common with those who still believe in fairy tales. The whole thrust of the current effort is to make moderates realize that their knee-jerk religious convictions that they have followed by inertia if nothing else, is not only wrong but harmful.

10. Church and State: Divided we stand

Comment #63530 by DV82XL on August 14, 2007 at 5:36 pm

monkey2 - I utterly agree. I wonder why this line of thought has not been pursued further?

11. Church and State: Divided we stand

Comment #63511 by DV82XL on August 14, 2007 at 3:56 pm

The argument here is parallel to one recently made by a blogger (I don't remember who) that he thought that the best thing for science in the U.S. would be to have the government declare a war on it. He argued that given the fact that the 'War on Poverty', the 'War on Drugs', and the 'War on Terrorism' had in fact seemed to make those pestulance even stronger, a 'War on Science' would have the same effect on that field.

It cannot be forgotten that religion is wrong because it is simply false, and that it took the slaughter of millions to break the Churches hold on Europe.

12. The Bible's literary sins

Comment #63187 by DV82XL on August 13, 2007 at 12:50 pm

My road to disbelief was paved with the New English Translation. Once I started to understand what was actually written, I realized what a crock it was.

13. Pentagon: Hold On, Christian Soldiers!

Comment #61914 by DV82XL on August 7, 2007 at 11:39 am

Onward Christian Solders (sigh)

14. Does the Bible have a place in public schools?

Comment #61751 by DV82XL on August 6, 2007 at 6:13 pm

Sure teach the Bible, and the Upanishads, the Koran, the Sutras etc. If that is what you feel High School is for, as opposed to say learning math, civics, history etc.

Just don't expect your graduates to get a job.

15. In defense of dangerous ideas

Comment #58115 by DV82XL on July 23, 2007 at 2:42 pm

It's a valid 'dangerous idea' because it is outside the norm, it doesn't need to be right.

16. Response to the God Delusion

Comment #57962 by DV82XL on July 22, 2007 at 4:26 pm

The usual drivel that passes as rebuttal. Well presented perhaps, but by no means anything more than an ad holmium attack dressed up as a dissenting opinion.

I have yet to hear or read one critique that addresses the central tenets of TGD and provides a reasoned rebuttal of the ideas presented therein.

The Revd. Steve Midgley is only trying to sandbag the flow of reasonable doubt that is beginning to grow in the minds of the many that have been paying lip-service to some church or faith. Every time someone like him attacks the book they are probably creating more doubt about the bible than they are of TGD.

17. God '08: Whose, and How Much, Will Voters Accept?

Comment #57933 by DV82XL on July 22, 2007 at 12:36 pm

Of course this means we have to believe that a politician claiming belief in an imaginary friend is telling the truth.

In as much as they lie about everything else, or at least adjust their views to suit the mood of the electorate, I'll bet that most of them gave up on religion long ago.

18. Is there an Artificial God?

Comment #57304 by DV82XL on July 18, 2007 at 8:49 pm

I'm sorry, this just again reminds my just what a tragic loss this mans death was. Were he still around he would have been right in the thick of this debate, skewering opposition with a deadly mix of humor and logic.

19. The New New Atheism

Comment #56568 by DV82XL on July 16, 2007 at 12:44 pm

One doubts that he has any conviction in these matters.

I am seeing this more and more among those apologists of faith that are members of the intelligentsia. They are victims of their own mind's inability to ignore commonsense.

Their hearts are not in it anymore.

20. The fundamentalist delusion

Comment #56220 by DV82XL on July 14, 2007 at 2:14 pm

Same old, same old. Atheism is a religion therefor it can be dismissed by the same arguments it turns on faith. Wrong as usual.

21. Won't anyone stand up for God?

Comment #54486 by DV82XL on July 7, 2007 at 12:19 pm

No one is standing up for God because He is no longer attracting the best intellectuals to His cause anymore.

The great minds of the past that tried to construct a working philosophy out of scripture were simply not replaced after the Enlightenment, and what is left are the delusional and the incompetent. The only reasonably powerful minds left in the field are the criminal element, that exploit the weak to line their pockets.

22. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #52658 by DV82XL on June 27, 2007 at 4:28 pm

"As a scientist, I have nothing to say about the soul. It's not a scientific idea."

Amen

23. Wanted: Moral Education for Secular Children

Comment #48382 by DV82XL on June 7, 2007 at 4:29 pm

GodlessHeathen & Steven Mading I have raised several to adulthood, so I know how kids think (or don't, as the case may be) and we inculcated a sense of what was acceptable behavior while they were in the home, and made it clear that they were expected to conform to the standards of behavior set at school.

However I expected them to develop a moral/ethical center based on reason. Yes, we would discuss this and they would hear my position, and the logic that brought me to these conclusions - but I did not hand them a prepackaged set of "practical ethical wisdom" that had been "tested by the crucible of experience and which we can share with others in living the fullness of life within the communities in which we interact" all of which smells of a fixed "code' - and that is what is in tension with the ideals of critical reasoning.

Yes there are Laws, which as a group, (in theory at least) we all agree on and that are enforced by the collective will for the benefit of all, (again in theory) but this is not the same as moral-ethical thinking. Teaching these is a different issue altogether and they should not be confounded in a student's mind.

Math is a poor example because it is a not only a product of reason but a tool of it as well. Also there isn't the element of choosing by free will in mathematics that is central to moral and ethical reasoning.

Look, divine law in our view is a fraud, as it is clear that it was written by men who claimed authority they could not have had; by what authority does this 'eupraxsophy' claim ascendancy? The superior wisdom of those that hold it. Sorry - same B.S. hijacking secular humanism that took over religion.

24. Wanted: Moral Education for Secular Children

Comment #48349 by DV82XL on June 7, 2007 at 2:34 pm

Let's hang on a minute here.

I was under the impression that a secular humanist's moral and ethical position is a natural product of critical thinking. Teach the skill of reason and you should have no need to "espouse a set of normative values and principles" which anyway has the odor of dogma about it which is the antithesis of objective methods for testing claims of truth.

In this I still see the paternalistic stance that people cannot be trusted to think for themselves, and thus need to be told what to believe by their betters.

25. 4 Sermon for Matins: 'Dawkins and The God Delusion'

Comment #36539 by DV82XL on May 1, 2007 at 1:04 pm

"Does he not understand that his idea of 'richness and complexity' is so incredibly poor compared to the view that science offers?"

No basically not, and that's the rub, if he could he'd be one of us.

26. Against All Gods, by A C Grayling

Comment #36078 by DV82XL on April 30, 2007 at 6:20 am

What Cool on Oolon said

27. Non-believers can be bigoted too

Comment #25606 by DV82XL on March 14, 2007 at 9:57 am

Oh please!

28. U.S. Mint goof creates 'Godless dollars'

Comment #24883 by DV82XL on March 9, 2007 at 3:26 am

These coins have certainly attracted more attention than the last two efforts to introduce a one dollar coin into circulation in the U.S.

Excuse me if I see a viral marketing campaign at work here.

As I'm writing these coins are going for $50 USD on E-Bay

29. Pope is warned of a green Antichrist

Comment #23931 by DV82XL on March 3, 2007 at 3:25 pm

"a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist".

That's right up there with the censure of Galileo

If I were a Roman Catholic I would have to believe that the Church had been taken over by Satan's agents on Earth and I would expect the Antichrist to appear among the hierarchy there.

30. God, sex, drugs and politics

Comment #22528 by DV82XL on February 19, 2007 at 1:50 pm

So this is what Christians stand for is it? Control of sexual relationships, enforced by the threat of a slow and agonizing death for transgressors.

31. Evolution Sunday

Comment #21873 by DV82XL on February 11, 2007 at 10:23 am

While I agree wholeheartedly with John the Atheist, let's celebrate the fact that they are the ones compromising.

32. No stoning, Canada migrants told

Comment #20257 by DV82XL on February 1, 2007 at 10:07 am

Quebec has had a policy of integrating immigrants into Quebec culture. The wisdom of this has been debated at length over the last thirty years, and I am not going to defend it or condemn it here. In this mater we have diverged from the rest of Canada which encourages the so-called 'Ethnic Patchwork' ideal.

While the latter may seem the more politically correct path it has led to one Provence (Ontario) to empower private Sharia courts to hear Family Law for a time, until an outraged public forced the legislature to reverse itself. In Quebec a Muslim member of the Quebec Assembly, (a woman) tabled and had passes a resolution affirming that such a law would never be passed here, because Sharia law is in violation of Quebec's Bill of Human Rights.

Quebec has awoken only in the last generation from a nightmare of de facto theocracy, and the memory of that is still seared into many peoples memories.

Forgive us please if we see any religious strictures, whoever they are applied to, as a dangerous thing, and we move quickly to snuff them out.

33. The Bright Revolution

Comment #19027 by DV82XL on January 24, 2007 at 12:23 pm

The problem with 'Bright' is that it sounds forced.

Homosexual is a psychosocial term, it has its roots in the broader 19th century tradition of personality taxonomy. As such it is a classification, not an identity.

The term 'Gay' came into use by the homosexual community in reference to themselves long before the word came into common usage. In 1938, a very public use of the word occurred in a movie starring Cary Grant. In this movie he was dressed in a woman's lace nightgown and he was asked if he always dressed this way. His reply is, "No, I've just gone gay all of a sudden." In 1941, the term "gay" was used as a slang term for a homosexual in a book entitled, "Sexual Variations." In 1969, New York City police raided a bar at Greenwich Village that was frequented by homosexuals. Through that ordeal and the ensuing protests, the word, "gay," took on its modern usage in our world.

"Bright' on the other hand was coined to identify atheists in an attempt to soften that word and frankly it sounds silly and is not likely to be taken up by the majority of non-theists.

Frankly I am beginning to find the topic tiresome; I am an Atheist pure and simple and I will continue to identify myself as such.

34. Homophobia, not injustice, is what really fires the faiths

Comment #17083 by DV82XL on January 10, 2007 at 4:33 pm

"Human nature sublimates the impulses it thwarts,
A healthy sex-life mitigates lusts of other sorts"

Piet Hein

35. Homophobia, not injustice, is what really fires the faiths

Comment #17078 by DV82XL on January 10, 2007 at 4:13 pm

We can only hope that displays of this sort by the theists will wake the 'silent majority' to the dangers of allowing religious organizations any role in public policy.

36. Intelligent design is a science, not a faith

Comment #16932 by DV82XL on January 9, 2007 at 4:22 pm

We have to see this flood of attacks as a sign that we are winning. Atheism was never, up until now perceived as a threat. The fact that they are now fighting like cornered rats, is a good indication that they feel cornered.

They have depended on the unwritten rule that one must not attack faith, and the habit of most to identify them selves as Christians (or Jews or whatever) even when they were not devout, to claim a majority position.

The popularity of RD's book and others like has hit them hard. Most importantly as these arm the agnostic and Sunday-only faithfull against the sort of rhetorical tactics the theists have honed to get and keep converts and the sheep (er.. flock) from leaving.

The worse these attacks get the more we are getting under their skin. As to those that swallow this trash; they are beyond hope at this point anyway.

37. Ancient religion may face extinction

Comment #16452 by DV82XL on January 6, 2007 at 4:03 pm

Well, props to them for going out with some decorum.

38. God-less

Comment #16445 by DV82XL on January 6, 2007 at 3:52 pm

The Globe and bloody Mail typically trying to agree with both side of an issue. The writers take it to an art-form.

"As skeptical as I am of religion's claims, as dubious as I find its superstitions, as much as I think it should enjoy no special status sheltering it from criticism (or even ridicule), I remain as skeptical that the mysteries of the universe -- that it exists at all is one -- will be revealed to science any time soon, if ever."

Nothing like taking a stand I always say...

39. Without God, Gall Is Permitted

Comment #16224 by DV82XL on January 5, 2007 at 4:06 pm

Seti - you took the words right out of my mouth.

40. If they preach the cause of the poor, they're my people

Comment #15836 by DV82XL on January 3, 2007 at 9:34 am

Way out of line. Secular Socialism has spoken out for the disenfranchised for decades. Not that I'm a hard-core socialist, I'm just saying...

41. America's Holy Warriors

Comment #15820 by DV82XL on January 3, 2007 at 7:33 am

"Once in power who knows what would happen. Armageddon?"

That's the point. Unlike others that would built empires, these folk WANT to bring about the end of the World.

42. Let's Hope It's A Lasting Vogue

Comment #15569 by DV82XL on January 1, 2007 at 11:12 am

This is not going to be a passing vogue. I have had the privilege of living through the transition of my Provence (Quebec, Canada) from an effective Roman Catholic theocracy to a pluralistic secular state.

Those that did not live here before that change have difficulty believing some of the stories from that time, of paychecks being set first to the church to be cashed and then payed out by the priest (after taking the tithe), of elections controlled by demanding that ballots be shown before putting them into the box, and other abuses too numerous to list here.

The so-called Quiet Revolution broke the back of the Church's power BECAUSE there where so many that had lost faith, but were conforming outwardly due to fear, that once the first solid kicks hit this rotten structure, it fell swiftly apart.

We have gone in one generation from a culture that treated children born out of wedlock as sub-human (Google 'Duplessis Orphans' if you don't believe me) to the first jurisdiction in North America to legalize Gay marriage. Yes there was a linguistic component to this, but by in large this was a Trojan Horse for the real issue. I am a Francophone, (as you can tell from my poor English prose) and I can tell you that I had no trouble living in French before this happened.

RD has mentioned in the past the unwritten rule that demands that we 'show respect' to those with faith, even if we don't believe ourselves. This is the final barrier must be broken down, in the English speaking world at least, and you will see just how many will find their voice and how swiftly the political influence of the theists will melt away

43. Left Behind: Eternal Forces on The Daily Show

Comment #15491 by DV82XL on December 31, 2006 at 8:06 pm

I am so sick of this 'Left Behind' nonsense. The fact that this fantasy series is being treated by some as scriptural authority - with encouragement from some popular pulpits - shows just how intellectually bankrupt Christianity has become.

44. Not Yet The Majority But No Longer Silent

Comment #15490 by DV82XL on December 31, 2006 at 7:50 pm

How about just calling ourselves 'Enlightened' - we are after all trying to bring about a new enlightenment. Yes it's a bit snotty, but remember our opponents arrogate to themselves the right to speak for God.

45. Not Yet The Majority But No Longer Silent

Comment #15438 by DV82XL on December 31, 2006 at 10:23 am

"As long as those who are believers will acknowledge that their allegiance gives them no privilege, no direct line to the absolute truth, no advantage in moral insight, we should be able to get along just fine."

Fat chance.

It is just this penchant for dogmatic certainty that has brought (or is bringing us) out of the closet. I wonder just how many indifferent agnostics are now going to declare themselves atheists just because of the abuses of the lunatics projecting their nonsense beyond their own groups and demanding that the rest of us swallow it?

46. Oh, we Brits of little faith

Comment #14753 by DV82XL on December 24, 2006 at 10:40 pm

We've already won, and all that's left is mopping-up if this is the best that they can throw at us. The funny thing is than anyone sitting on the fence or claiming to be agnostic is going to be driven into the atheist camp just because they won't want to be associated with this sort of drivel.

47. 10 myths - and 10 truths - about atheism

Comment #14752 by DV82XL on December 24, 2006 at 10:32 pm

"Atheists ignore the fact that religion is extremely beneficial to society."

Atheists see that any supposed good is completely overshadowed by the harm it does. Suggesting that atheists ignore the fact that religion is extremely beneficial to society is tantamount to saying that critics of heroin addition are overlooking the fact that the junky feels good when he is on the nod.

48. A Christmas thunderbolt for the arch-enemy of religion

Comment #14750 by DV82XL on December 24, 2006 at 10:25 pm

How pompous can you get? But then again how typical - believers of a certain type have always assumed that they are channelling for their deity - the pathetic thing is that there is a constiuancy that swallows this assumption.